Saint Monica of Hippo (332 - 387) is a Christian saint and the mother of Saint Augustine, who wrote extensively of her virtues and his life with her in his Confessions.

Saint Monica[1] was of Berber descent.[2] She was born at Tagaste (located in modern-day Souk Ahras, Algeria). Her parents brought her up as Christian and married her to an older, pagan man named Patricius. He was a man with a great deal of energy, but also a man given to violent tempers and adultery. Augustine reports that despite the prevalence of domestic abuse at the time, because of her obedience to him, Patricius never beat St. Monica. Furthermore, her mother-in-law was against her and put her into great troubles.

However, St. Monica attended church daily and found patience. She would say to other women who had bad marriages, "If you can master your tongue, not only do you run less risk of being beaten, but perhaps you may even, one day, make your husband better." She won the favor of her mother-in-law in a short time. Eventually, she converted Patricius to Christianity and calmed his violence.

St. Monica bore three children, among them Saint Augustine. Augustine made her very happy with his successes as a scholar and teacher, but he also made her very ashamed with his debauchery. For ten years, Augustine lived with his mistress and subscribed to Manichaeism. St. Monica sent Augustine to a bishop to be convinced of his errors. The bishop, however, was unable to prevail, and he advised St. Monica simply to continue to pray for her son. He told her, "It is impossible that the son of so many tears should perish."

When Patricius died, St. Monica joined Augustine in Italy. There, some time later, she had the pleasure of seeing her son, at the age of 28, converted, and baptized by Saint Ambrose. Not long after, as she was preparing to return to Africa, she died at the age of 56 at the port of Ostia, telling Augustine: "There was indeed one thing for which I wished to tarry a little in this life, and that was that I might see you a Catholic Christian before I died. My God hath answered this more than abundantly, so that I see you now made his servant and spurning all earthly happiness. What more am I to do here?"[3]

Her relics were later removed from Ostia to the church of Sant'Agostino in Rome.

Saint Monica's feast day was inserted into the Roman Calendar in about 1550 and assigned to 4 May, the day on which the Augustinians celebrated her, since on 5 May they celebrated the Conversion of Saint Augustine, and the exact date of her death is unknown.[4] Since the feast of the Conversion of Saint Augustine is not part of the Roman Calendar, it was decided, as part of the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic calendar of saints, to move her feast to 27 August, the day before the feast of her son Augustine that is in the Roman Calendar.[5] The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America likewise venerates her on that day.

She is the patron saint of patience, wives, mothers, and abuse victims.